The Color of Her Hair
by EgoistFan85
Summary: Amidst the war between Hadrian's Wall and Black Claw, Nick and the gang must deal with a series of murders from a rather infamous killer.
1. Night on the Prowl

**Surprise surprise! I'm back! It's been far too long and I can actually explain that. I've been focusing more on my actual writing outside of fanfics. But I then I thought to myself, "Why can't I do both?" **

**So here I am, posting my first fanfic in so many years. I hope you peoples will enjoy it. :D**

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**The Color of Her Hair**

Chapter 1: Night on the Prowl

Portland at night seemed to hold a certain amount of tranquility to it. No one could put a finger on it, but when the local police weren't running around and chasing whatever felon was on the loose, nights actually seemed kind of peaceful. Few people were walking the streets and the moon cast its brilliance upon the city.

What a perfect night for some mayhem.

Strolling out of a rather hectic bar, he searched the immediate vicinity for any signs of her, breath hitched beyond belief. She had gotten him so worked up in there and he couldn't take it anymore. There was only so much teasing he could take before he snapped.

The way she looked at him as she downed her drinks.

The way her voice was absolutely dripping with sexiness.

The way her body was poised for him, wanting him as much as he wanted her.

It was taking all of his willpower to not sniff her out and pounce on her.

Sweating, his eyes glowed bright red in anticipation. His patience and restraint was running thin. He needed to find her. And fast.

He dashed across the block, red eyes scanning the area with utmost desparation. Of the few people that were walking around at night, she wasn't one of them and he let out a curse. Time was running out and he needed her! NOW!

Then he saw it.

Underneath the glow of a streetlight, he saw a flash of red as a nearby woman strolled into an alleyway.

Losing all restraint, he woged-taking on the fierce visage of a Blutbad-and eagerly dashed to her. He ran across the street and into the alleyway, unable to keep playing this game any longer.

He needed her so much. He craved her touch. An embrace. A kiss. Anything to quench the fire burning inside of him right now.

And at long last, he got his kiss.

But not one he was expecting.

Well, it was still a kiss of sorts.

But instead of his lips, it was the base of his throat that was kissed.

And instead of her lips, he was kissed by the long, sharp blade of a katana.

* * *

**Ouch! What a way to go!**

**Anyways, it feels nice to be back. What did you think of this chapter? Pretty Grimm, huh? XD**

**Hope you enjoyed! :)**


	2. Morning After

**And now we get to the difficult part: the actual crime scene. I've watched Grimm many times, but hopefully I can do these scenes justice.**

**God, I love this show...**

**Side note: I actually did have to look up things like "stab wound sword" to better describe the wound. The images are actually quite gruesome, so search at your own peril. **

**I'm not a serial killer, I swear! XD Anyways, enjoy the chapter. **

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Chapter 2: Morning After

The crime scene chatter hit Nick and Hank like an old memory as they stepped out of their car. They strolled towards the crime scene-the yellow tape was all too hard to miss-where Sergeant Wu approached with a bit of haste in his step.

"Gentlemen, and you two as well," Wu chirped. "I'm judging by those dark circles that sleep is still hard to come by."

Nick and Hank chuckled. Hank asked, "What have we got, Wu?"

"Victim has been identified as one Joshua Welmar," Wu stated. "Passerby found him about three hours ago. Someone gave him one hell of a stab wound."

"Any witnesses?" Hank asked.

"None that have come forward," Wu said. "I've got the guy who found him in my car."

Officially entering the crime scene, Nick and Hank knelt down and looked at the wound on the base of Welmar's throat. It was still very red and wedge-shaped, ending in what could only be described as a fishtail. Just by observing the churned-up flesh near the center, Nick and Hank could tell that the wound went pretty deep; was it possible the gash was perforative? The flow of blood had already run its course down his neck, staining his dark green shirt with a massive, red blotch, the size of a dinner plate.

And Nick and Hank could tell that there was no going back after that size, even without a stab wound.

Hank whistled. "Damn."

"Definitely a stab wound," Nick muttered. "Could have been a single-edged weapon."

"Are we talking sword?" Hank asked.

"Looks like it. We'll know more once the M.E. has a look at him," Nick replied. He reached into Welmar's pocket, took out his wallet and opened it. "Cash is still in his wallet. Definitely not a robbery."

"No other signs of a fight," Hank pointed out. He turned to Wu. "Let's talk to the guy who found him."

"That would be Samuel Wilkerson. Follow me." He lead Nick and Hank to his police car, where a fidgety middle-aged man in business attire was sitting in the back seat. "Mr. Wilkerson, these are Detectives Burkhardt and Griffin."

"So you're the one that found Welmar," Nick said.

"Yes, I am," Wilkerson replied in a rather meek voice. "I was on my way to work when I noticed him out of the corner of my eye. I thought he was passed out at first, but then I saw the wound on his chest." His face wrinkled in discomfort. "Nearly gave me a heart attack. I called 911 as soon as I saw it."

"Did you see or hear anything else?" Hank asked. "A scream, maybe someone leaving or anything else?"

"No, no," Wilkerson said. "I only saw the body."

Nick nodded. "Thank you for your time. You're free to go." He an Hank walked away as Wu called another officer to take Wilkerson home before following them.

"Let CSU have it," Hank told yet officer before catching up. "We think Wilkerson is Wesen."

"Not that he's letting on," Nick replied. "The killing doesn't look Wesen either."

"Well, this should be interesting," Wu mused.

"Let's get back to the precinct," Nick said. "Let's see if anyone had it out for Welmar."

* * *

"It looks like Welmar has a little bit of a record," Hank said with a sigh. He leaned back on his chair. "He's only ever been arrested twice. Once for assault and once for a drunken disorderly. Other than that, he's clean."

"Pretty much what I've got," Nick added. "No known enemies, no gang affilations. Might be just a random act of violence."

At that moment, Wu approached their desk with a blue folder.

"Just got the report back from the M.E.," he said, opening the folder. "Apparently, the wounds indicate that the victim's throat was pierced with a very sharp instrument."

Now that was a first. "How sharp?" Nick asked.

"Surgically-sharp blade," Wu responded, still reading the report.

Hank's eyes widened. "Scalpel? Again? I'm not ready for another Jack the Ripper."

"With a wound that big, I'm going with a sword," Nick said. He turned to Wu. "Anything else?"

"Oh yeah. CSU found Welmar's car parked in the vicinity of the Bent Brick, so now we know where he was last seen," Wu added.

"Well, at least we know where to start," Hank said as he and Nick got up.

Nick chuckled. "Might as well get a few drinks while we're at it."

"Well, I guess I'm coming with you, too." Wu started to fall in step with Nick and Hank. "I could definitely use a drink or two."

"Or you could stay here and see if anyone's reported Welmar missing," Hank said. "A guy this clean had to have some kind of family here in Portland."

That elicted a rather audible sigh from Wu. "Oh alright, I get it. Not needed." He walked off, disappointment dripping with each step, as Hank chuckled somewhat victoriously behind him.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Nick asked.

"He'll live," Hank replied. "Let's see if anyone at the Bent Brick saw him leave."

And with that, the two detectives walked out of the precinct.

* * *

**And there we have it. I'm really sorry that I took so long. I really wanted to do a Wesen crime scene justice. **

**That, and my internet's been funky. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Tell me how you're liking it so far! :D**


	3. Searches, Suspects, and Swords

**I really like how well my story is unfolding so far. But at the same time, I'm also trying to strike the balance between writing what I like in the story and writing what makes sense. **

**BALANCE IS NECESSARY! Anyways, enjoy the chapter. **

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Chapter 3: Searches, Suspects, and Swords

The Bent Brick seemed as crowded as ever as Nick and Hank walked inside. Everywhere they looked, all they saw was casual conversation after casual conversation. Patrons sat at the bar enjoying their drinks and meals while the employees were absorbed in making drinks.

It was pretty hard to believe that someone had been murdered just after coming here.

As Nick and Hank approached the bar, a few of the patrons had looked up from their drinks and meals-most likely thinking to themselves: "What the hell are the police doing here? Shouldn't they be somewhere? Anywhere other than a bar?"

The bartender-a young man with smooth, black hair-was busy making a drink when he noticed Hank and Nick-or rather, their police badges-at which he suddenly went stiff before immediately standing up straight.

"W-What can I do for you two?" he said nervously.

"Oh, yes you can," Hank said.

"You see this guy last night?" Pulling out his phone, Nick showed the bartender Joshua Welmar's mugshot.

"Uh, sorry, I wasn't here last night," the bartender said. "But you could talk to my boss. He's in the back. Maybe he saw him. Follow me."

And so Nick and Hank followed the young man into the back room, where a middle-aged man-he looked about 55 years old-was sifting through some papers. As soon as he saw Nick and Hank's badges, he immediately stopped what he was doing and straightened his back.

"What did I do?" he laughed. "Ah, what can I do for you two fine men?"

Hank chuckled. "I'm Detective Griffin and this is Detective Burkhardt." He held up Welmar's mugshot. "We have reason to believe that Joshua Welmar was last seen here."

The manager laughed again. "Okay, what did _he _do?"

"He was murdered, sir," Nick replied.

If the manager wasn't awake, he certainly was now. "Oh. If that's the case, I'll help however I can. Uh, yeah, I do remember seeing him last night. He was real social, that one. He's a regular around here, so I know a lot about him."

"Did you notice anything strange? Anyone look at him funny or something?" Hank asked.

"No, no I didn't, the manager replied. "Josh didn't have any enemies. Everyone seemed to love him.

"Clearly not everyone," Hank mused.

"His body was found away from his car. Did he leave with anyone?" Nick asked.

"Sort of." The manager heaved a big sigh. "I didn't see him leave with anyone, per se. But there was this one woman he was chasing after. I only caught a glimpse of her, though. They were really hitting it off."

"Can you describe the woman?" Nick asked.

"All I know is that she had red hair. Like burgundy-ish, dark red. You can't miss it."

"We're gonna need to send us your surveillance," Hank said.

"I can do that."

"In the meantime"-Hank pulled out his card and handed it to him-"if you see this woman again, please call us." He and Nick walked out of the room and out of the bar. Hank sighed.

"Red hair, huh?" He looked at Nick. "That's new."

"Definitely a start," Nick replied. "Kinda narrows it down... sort of."

"Well, if she's the killer, she must be a kickass woman."

"Well, let's see what we can get from surveillance."

* * *

"Whoa, you really did a good job, Monroe!"

Monroe handed Derek Biscoe-a 25-year old blond, young man-his gold pocket watch, which he retrieved and proceeded to stare at it in awe.

"Oh jeez, you really touched up everything! Even the engraving!"

"Okay, Derek, I gotta ask," Monroe said. "Did a lady friend give this to you?"

"No, this is a gift from my sister Jenna," Derek said. "I felt really bad letting it get all worn. But I used her coming home from New York as an excuse to get it touched up."

"Feeling a little homesick?" Monroe asked.

"I dunno, I guess," Derek replied.

"_You don't know what, Derek?_"

Both men turned around to see a young, black-haired woman dressed in a black high-waisted outfit emerging from her nearby bedroom. Pulling a chair towards her, she sat down and stared intently at Derek.

Monroe supressed a giggle. Even without talking, Derek could already tell what we was going to say: "_Someone's in trouble, mister._"

"W-Well," Derek stammered. "I was just surprised that you came home so quickly. You were so set on staying in New York."

"Oh, so a surprise family visit," Monroe said. "Trust me, dude. I know how you feel. My parents showed up 2 years ago unannounced too."

Jenna reached over and pinched Derek's cheek. "Well, I wanted to see my little bro. Is that some sort of crime?"

"No," Derek laughed, swatting his sister's hand away. He turned to Monroe. "So how much for the repair?"

"Well, as tempting as it is to not charge a dime for that beauty," Monroe said, "that's $300 dollars for the repair."

"What?!" Derek nearly leapt out of his chair, clearly at a loss for words.

Jenna leaned over Derek's shoulder. "Next time, think twice before you ruin your gifts."

Derek laughed nervously.

* * *

"Oh my God! We made quite the haul today, Luce!"

Strolling through the sidewalk, Lucy's arms strained at the weight of so many shopping bags. Even now, she was half-running half-limping behind her friend as she trotted happily on the concrete, brown pigtails bobbing as she bounced.

"How are your arms not hurting, Dani?" Lucy asked.

"Not even I know," Dani said cheerfully. "Maybe it's 'cause I had a good time!" She turned her head back only to see Lucy's sorry state and chuckled. "Don't worry, Luce. You can put the bags down when we get to the car."

"I hope we get there soon. Why'd you park so damn far?"

"There wasn't much to choose from. You should know how crowded the parking lot gets at that time of day."

Dani started to slow her trot to a slow stroll and Lucy sighed. For several moments, neither one of them said anything. They just continued to walk, until Dani heard a metallic clink under her boot.

A few seconds too late, for she had already fallen on the concrete below.

"Dani!" Lucy rushed to her fallen friend and helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dani muttered. "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea. There's nothing to trip over." Lucy looked back and immediately looked around. "Except maybe that."

Dani stood up. "Except what?"

"That." Lucy pointed to what looked like a light-green hilt laying on the edge of the sidewalk, half illuminated by the streetlamps, half obscured by the darkness of the park beyond.

Grabbing the hilt, there was a resounding scrape of metal on metal before Lucy pulled out a small but authentic-looking sword.

"What the hell?" Lucy mused, staring at the blade in awe.

"Oh my God." Dani rushed over to her friend. "A sword! Is it real?"

"No, idiot, people leave fake swords laying around all the time," Lucy replied. "Of course it's real!"

"Well, what's it doing in the park?" Dani cried.

"I don't know! You're asking the wrong person!"

Dani sighed, fanning her face with her hand. "I can't believe this is happening. What do we do with it?

_"You return it to me, of course."_

Both women turned towards their left, near a pair of dimly-lit buildings. Another woman wearing what appeared to be black jacket and gloves was advancing towards them in a nice stride.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked. Then she looked at the woman's hair. "Oh."

"Does this sword belong to-oh my God." Dani's eyes turned red. "It's you."

Lucy's eyes turned red as well. "What the hell are you doing here?"

_"Well, if you know who I am, then you should know why I'm here."_

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, Dani and Lucy woged into Blutbaden and immediately rushed the other woman with mighty growls and roars. The woman fought back, though not without sustaining many scratches on her body as she punched and kicked and knocked both of them back and together.

While Lucy and the other woman grappled with each other, Dani rushed towards the woman and sunk her claws deep into her arms, only to get kicked back onto the ground while Lucy was thrown aside, bruised and scraped all over, blood dripping from her lip.

Looking around, Dani saw the sword still lying on the sidewalk. With desperation in her movements, she grabbed the swordand lunged at the woman as fast as she could.

Only for the woman to grab her wrist.

Dani retracted. "Oh God, please! No!"

And that was when she felt her wrist get twisted. Dani yelled in pain as the sound of bones cracking filled her ears.

And she was silenced as the blade she had just held shredded her stomach. Finally released, Dani's lifeless body fell to the ground with a resounding thud.

"Dani!"

Retracting, Lucy ran as fast as she could into the park, hoping to God that the darkness would somehow disorient her friend's killer. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and wept, wishing that the image of Dani's entrails get ripped apart would just leave her head.

But to no avail. Finding cover in a nearby tree, she reached into her pocket, took out her phone, and immediately dialed 911.

"_911, what is your emergency?_"

"H-Help me," Lucy whimpered. "Help me please! She killed my friend! Help me! Please! Plea-"

The last thing Lucy felt was a strong hand grabbing her by the head and slamming her against the tree. The last thing Lucy heard-as she felt a sharp blade slice open her chest-was her hysterical cries resonating throughout the dark park.

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**And that's the chapter. It seems our killer is upping the ante. A lot. XD**

**I'm _really_ sorry that this took so long to post. I have a busy schedule, so free time is really hard to come by.**

**But I have no intention of giving up on this story! I'll tell you that much!  
**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter all the same! :D**


	4. Black Seeds of Conspiracy

**WE FINALLY MADE IT PEOPLE! HAPPY 2020! Only to have a friggin' pandemic. **

**Jeezus, 2020'S SOOOO GREAT, AIN'T IT FOLKS!**

**Hope you're ready for more, 'cause here's Chapter 4.**

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Chapter 4: Black Seeds of Conspiracy

Leaning forward, Nick eyed the Bent Brick surveillance with intense fervor. He and Hank had been going over the surveillance for the past 45 minutes and the only thing they were seeing so far was the victim chatting up a bunch of women at the bar.

Clearly the manager wasn't wrong about Welmar being social.

Hank shook his head. "I've got nothing here. No one eyeing him funny, no threats, nothing." He sighed. "What about you? Did you find anything?"

"Well, it looks like Welmar was a real lady-killer," Nick said. "He was chatting up a lot of girls before he was killed."

Hank rolled his chair next to Nick. "Hmm, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say we've got a crime of passion. Another guy killed him after he talked to the wrong girl."

"And that wrong girl is our redhead," Nick added. "I haven't seen her on the surveillance so far. Let's see."

Pushing a button, the surveillance started to speed up, during which Welmar chatted up a few more women–a blond, two brunettes.

And a redhead.

"Hank! There she is!" Nick said.

Leaning in, both Nick and Hank peered at the screen.

Welmar and the redhead downed a few shots and laughed. While Nick and Hank could easily tell that Welmar was having fun, the redhead was much more difficult to read, for her back was facing the camera, though she was leaning close to Welmar, her shoulders swayed along with her body.

Then, after waggling her right finger rather suggestively, the redhead downed another shot before quickly strutting out of the bar. At that point, Nick and Hank could clearly see what she was wearing: a low-cut, floral-patterned, bluish-black cocktail dress with high-heeled sandals.

With a rather ecstatic look on his face, Welmar downed his shot and rushed out the bar.

Hank chuckled. "She's a hell of a woman."

"No kidding" Nick replied. "Anyways, that puts our redhead directly in the witness ballpark. She could've seen what happened to him."

"Love triangle gone south?"

"Starting to look like it. We need to look for this redhead."

Hank rolled back to his side of the desk. "I'm sending a copy of the surveillance to the techs."

At that moment, Nick's phone started to ring. Looking at the screen, the caller was Wu.

"Wu, what have you got?"

"Hey, a 911 call just came in. We found two bodies a few yards away from Washington Square, same M.O.," Wu said. "We're sealing off the area."

"Got it, we're on our way." Hanging up, Nick turned to Hank."Two more bodies were found near Washington Square. They were cut up the same way as Welmar."

"Well, this oughta be good." Hank grabbed his jacket as he and Nick rushed out of the precinct.

* * *

Nick's Land Cruiser pulled up near the crime scene and as soon as he and Hank got out, they made their way through the small pool of crime scene gawkers and entered the area.

It didn't take long for them to realize that they were in for a doozy.

A girl–a brown-haired girl with a tan–lay sprawled across the sidewalk. There was a large gash on her stomach-or at least where her stomach used to be-leaving a pool of blood beside her body. The rest of her body was covered in cuts of various sizes.

Hank whistled. "Damn. That's a nasty way to go."

"That would be victim one: Danielle McCoy." Nick and Hank looked to see Wu walking briskly towards them. "I ran her name through the system. She's clean."

"Look at this." Putting on gloves, Nick lifted Danielle's right forearm, revealing a very red and swollen wrist. "Where do you think you she got this?"

"Looks like she was in one hell of a fight," Wu quipped.

"Is she the one that called 911?" Hank asked.

"No." Wu pointed to a nearby tree, where another girl–with long blonde hair and a fair complexion–lay in a dead slump against the trunk. "That honor would belong to victim two: Lucy Skye." He led the two detectives towards the tree, where Nick and Hank observed the body.

Aside from the usual signs of a struggle–bruises and scrapes–Lucy had a large slash across her chest, which had spilled blood all over her white shirt. Eyes as wide as plates, the back of her head was bleeding; Nick and Hank could see some of her head blood on the tree trunk behind her.

Hank shook his head. "Are we thinking our killer got to both of them?"

"Seems like it." Nick turned to Wu. "We're gonna need to get the details on that 911 call."

Wu nodded. "I can do that."

"We need to find a connection between these two and our killer," Nick added. "Or the killer and their victims. We need to establish a motive."

"Alright," Hank said. "Let's let CSU have it."

And with that, the three men walked away, with Wu giving the OK to the officers clad in dark blue and yellow. Nick and Hank followed in suit, venturing from out of the bloody scene and into the endless possibilities of their killer's identity.

* * *

The crime scene was still full of people after those two detectives and that sergeant had left. Whether it was the CSU-clad officers or just the curious crime scene gawker, there was no shortage of people around the usually deserted park.

But that was no problem for Jenna Biscoe.

Hidden between a nearby tree, Jenna drew in a long breath, taking in the strong scent of blood that had been spilled hours before; the scent of the girl by the tree was especially powerful, but she could also pick up the other girl lying on the sidewalk.

There was no mistaking it: the girls were Blutbaden.

Jenna drew in another breath, the metallic scent of blood filling her nostrils once more.

But this time, there was something else. It also had metallic whiff to it, but it wasn't blood. It definitely reeked—probably paint or something—but there was something else present there.

At that point, Jenna knew exactly what she had found. Leaving the scene, she dialed a number on her phone.

After the dial tone rang for a few more minutes, a man's voice finally spoke up from the other side.

"Hello?"

"It's me," Jenna said. "She's in Portland. I'm sure of it now."

"Did you see her?" the man said.

"No, but I'm at Washington Square. There's are two bodies here, slashed up by what looks like a sword." Even as she spoke, Jenna's gaze was firmly planted on the crime scene. "They were both Blutbaden."

The man sighed on the other line. "That could have been anyone with a sword. We need to be sure."

"I _am _sure," Jenna said, voice starting to rise. "There's more. Nick Burkhardt was just at the crime scene.

"The Grimm? What did he want?"

"Apparently, he and his friends are investigating the deaths in Washington Park. There's that, and the Grimm mentioned another name: Welmar. I'm assuming he was killed the same way as the girls in the park right now."

A silence followed for a while before the man finally said, "If that's the case, then we need to act. You need to find out if she's actually in Portland! As long as that woman is still alive, no Blutbaden is safe!"

"I know. I'll see what I can do."

Hanging up the phone, Jenna began to stride—practically skip—back to her house. She could have sworn that she felt a weight disappear from her chest. Letting out a slightly anxious giggle, Jenna skipping quickly died down to a mere stroll. The weight on her chest slowly trickled back before dissolving into nothing.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't full of anticipation.

The lie was that she would see what she could do about her target. She didn't need to. When it came to her target, Jenna only needed two things: a trap and bait.

A trap was simple. Her target was a rowdy one, willing to fight through anything. But she was still human; all she needed to do was to crush her with the power of Wesen united.

But what Jenna _really _needed was bait.

And she knew just who to turn to.

* * *

**Hmmm, it seems that Nick and company aren't the only ones looking for our killer. Hmmm...**

**Sorry it took me so long to update. I got caught up in school and everything. **

**Hope you enjoyed! :)**


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